Date: Nov 11, 2000 4:25 PM
Author: Richard Waters
Subject: [ap-stat] voting sample types
Dear colleages, I think I'm getting to this discussion a little late,but here goes: I was reading a discussion about whether voting resultsrepresents a voluntary response sample, since the voters are people whocare enough to vote. But doesn't this designation rest on a question ofdefinitions? What is the population of interest here? All adults ofvoting age? All registered voters? All 'likely' voters (whoever theyare. The media seems to know)? Only the actual voters' opinion about whois President really matters (polls don't count), so maybe *they* are thepopulation of interest. So the vote is not a sample, but actuallyrepresents a census of those opinions that matter. Just a thought.